Dou Jiande was standing in the main hall without any attendant accompanying him. Alone, he had his eyes fixed on the clay model on a round table in the middle of the hall. Translated by foxs

Hearing the two mens footsteps, this hegemon, who time and again went to battle and time and again achieved victory revealed a smile, his pair of eyebrows rose up, he calmly said, Xiao Zhong, come here and take a look; think for me how I can break through Liyang, to cut off the arm with which Li Yuan explore the area outside the Pass.

Kou Zhong sighed inwardly, knowing Dou Jiande has not put his heart the desire to have him, Kou Zhong, surrendering and paying allegiance to him to death. He hurriedly stepped forward and concentrated his attention to look. Turned out the model on the table was of the City of Liyang, complete with the mountains and streams of the surrounding area. The roads, cities and towns were spread out and were clearly depicted, absolutely not some ordinary military map could compare with; it was detailed and fine, with proper depression and elevation, so that in just one glance everything could be seen very clearly, saving a lot of time and effort to explain.

Sighing in praise, Kou Zhong said, This three-dimensional topographic map is very exquisite.

Standing on the other side, Liu Heita laughed and said, This model was built by Dou Ye himself.

Kou Zhong was amazed, thinking that you cant gain knowledge without practical experience; to personally build this kind of model, first he must spent a period of time to do an on-site survey, and then to use both hands to knead the clay to make the model, he must have the thought process and passion to throw himself into the project, to reach the highest requirement of knowing the enemy from the art of war. From this, it could clearly be seen the importance of Liyang to Dou Jiande.

Dou Jiande slowly said, To the south, Liyang is connected to Jiang Huai, to the west it is connected to Xiangluo, to the north it joins Youyan. Whether I want to march toward Guanzhong or perhaps deploy troops to Luoyang, this is a strategic hub that must be vied for.

Kou Zhong carefully checked the layout of the model of the City of Liyang. The wall was thick, deep ditches were dug around the city, drawing its water from the Yongji Canal. It could even be said that it was as secure as a city protected by a wall of metal and a moat of boiling water [idiom], easily guarded, difficult to attack. Pointing to another city southwest of Liyang, he asked, What city is this?

Dou Jiande laughed aloud and said, Xiao Zhong is indeed out of the ordinary, you are able to see the key place from which Liyang can be attacked. This city is called Weihui, together with Liyang, they have the momentum of horns. In the past, Yuwen Huaji led a hundred thousand old Sui elite troops going up north, Li Shiji abandoned Liyang and defended Liyangcang [lit. Liyang granary], while Li Mi led his troops to be stationed at Qingqi. Everyday they communicated via fire beacon. Whenever Yuwen Huaji attacked Liyang, Li Mi would dispatch his troops to attack his tail, causing Yuwen Huaji to face the enemy in front and behind him. Today Liyangcang has been broken by me and turned into ruins, its difficult for Li Shiji to carryout the retreat and defend Liyangcang tactic. But if Weihui corresponds well with the Tang Army, it is still greatly disadvantageous for our army to attack Liyang. I wonder if Xiao Zhong has a brilliant scheme to break the enemy? Translated by foxs

Without thinking the matter through, Kou Zhong responded, Since you have this consideration, why not attack and seize Weihui, which defensive capability is far below Liyangs first, and then cut off all sea and land connections to and from Liyang, so that Liyang will really become a lone city. At that time, whether you want to kill, you want to slaughter, Dou Ye can fulfill your desire.

Liu Heita sighed and said, Its not that we did not think about this strategy, but we are afraid that when we are going around Liyang to go straight to Weihui, Li Shiji would lead his troops behind us and attack suddenly. Li Shiji is indeed the most outstanding great general under Li Shimins command, he absolutely must not be underestimated.

Kou Zhong muttered to himself irresolutely for half a day. And then he laughed and said, Since thats the case, why dont we beat them at their own game, pretending to send the troops to Weihui, we lure Li Shiji to come and attack, and then we turn around to devour him.

Dou Jiande frowned and said, We have also thought about that strategy, but there are two problems: first, Li Shiji is proficient in the art of war, he cant possibly be falling into the trap that easily; second, even if Li Shiji is willing to send troops and attack, although the distance from Liyang to Weihui is only a little more than a hundred li, but the topography of the mountains and streams is complicated, we will be marching in scattered formation, Li Shiji, who is familiar with the local terrain, could concentrate his military strength, launch a sudden attack using the night as his cover, and ambush any point on my army. If that happens, our allotted share is only to take a beating.

Having a card up his sleeve, Kou Zhong smiled and said, I am not worried that Liyang would not send troops. If the person in charge in Liyang is only Li Shiji, one man, then whether this strategy is feasible or not is still difficult to predict. Fortunately, there is also Li Shentong. Li Yuan entrusted him with heavy responsibility, but he suffered big defeat at Zhaocheng. While feeling his face and eyes are without any light, while he is eager to seek victory, he definitely will not want to miss this golden opportunity. Dont worry! I guarantee Liyang will send troops to attack.

And then he slyly said, This time I went outside the Great Wall, it really opened wide my horizon. All Tujue people are of the same suit, which is cavalry; they come and go like the wind, never afraid of sudden and violent attack and not afraid to mount a sneak attack. Although we cannot copy the style they are moving their troops, we could put it to use differently in different situations.

Greatly interested, Dou Jiande and Liu Heita promptly asked a lot of questions.

Kou Zhong said, This is called there can never be too much deception in war. Not only we want to lure them to attack, but we must not be afraid of being attacked either. Furthermore, we must counterattack and hit it hard, to establish the prestige of our troops, to seize their resolve. But I wonder hows the strength of both sides, the enemy and us?

Without the slightest hesitation, Dou Jiande replied, Coming with me this time are my most elite troops. Not including the construction battalion, there are altogether five divisions; each division is ten thousand men. In the city of Liyang, the number of military personnel and civilian is between sixty to seventy thousand people, but the soldiers who are truly trained and have combat experience are no more than thirty thousand. Translated by foxs

Laughing aloud, Kou Zhong said, I have always been accustomed to using the weak to defeat the strong. If this time, using the strong to face the weak is still not successful, I should obediently pack and quit and return home. But I still have one thing Id like to speak forthrightly with Dou Ye. I want to know, after Dou Ye capture the city, what do you usually do?

Dou Jiande revealed a look of admiration, because the question that Kou Zhong asked was indeed the words of an expert. It should be noted that the reputation of the attacker had a decisive influence toward the people being attacked. For example, Tujue people were accustomed to massacre everyone in a captured city, so that the army and civilians in the city knew that horizontally, theyd be dead, vertically, theyd also be dead; therefore, they would rather fight to the last drop of blood, to hold out against the enemy to the very end.

Liu Heita replied on his behalf, Dou Yes treatment of the enemy is so good that no one can speak against it. Take defeating Yuwen Huaji for example; we acquired beautiful women in the imperial palace by the thousands, but Dou Ye immediately disband them. The enemy generals who wished to stay were all put in important positions. Therefore, the civil court officials and military generals of the old Sui, none was not happy to be employed by Dou Ye, such as the former Suis assistant minister of the Ministry of War Cui Junsu serving in the same capacity, the Minor Treasurer [one of the Nine Ministers in imperial China] Ling Hechou as the Shangshu [high official] in the Ministry of Works, Yu Shifu as the assistant minister of Huangmen [lit. yellow gate, dont know what it is], Ouyang Xun as the high ranking official in the Minister of Ceremonies; as for those who did not wish to surrender, we respected their aspiration, and properly sent them out of our territory.

Emotionally moved, Kou Zhong said, That should do it! Liyang is going to be the object inside Dou Yes bag.

Dou Jiande stared deeply at him; he spoke with solemn expression, If Xiao Zhong is willing to work together with Heita, an insignificant Liyang city wont be anything difficult, even the world will be the object inside my, Dou Jiandes bag.

Smiling ruefully, Kou Zhong said, Can this matter be talked about later? The immediate priority right now is to seize Liyang first, and then dampen Li Shimins Great Tang Army coming out of the Pass to the east.

Dou Jiande cheerfully said, Xiao Zhong evidently know why I, Dou Jiande particularly think highly of you, not only because you are both wise and brave, but the more important reason is that we all were born of low social strata [note: the dictionary says social stratum below the level of ordinary people/untouchable/dalit (India caste)]. Although my circumstances are a bit better than yours, but when I was little, my family was very poor, so I cant stand those corrupt bureaucrats aristocratic, rich and powerful family who think that they are above everybody else the most. Only people like us, who came from among the people can understand the suffering of the people. Throughout history, whose military accomplishments and his task of establishing and maintaining hegemony can compare to Ying Zheng, the first imperial emperor? However, the Great Qin perished only in the second generation, precisely due to the calamity of not showing concern to the circumstances of the people. On the contrary, Han Gaozu Liu Bang came from rough background, yet he was successful in establishing the throne of the Han Family. After that Wen Jing ruled, merely using military to recover, it was the period where our Central Earth was at its peak, since the dawn of time until today. Therefore, all ambitious scholars are unwilling to let Li Yuan and the likes to prevail. This is called united the power is strong, divided the power is weak. Xiao Zhong ought to give thought to big matters.

Kou Zhong nodded and said, Dou Yes words went straight to the bottom of my heart, hence in term of cooperation, there is absolutely no problem. Although I have the intention of unifying the world, I do not have the ambition to become the emperor. I only hope that there will be someone in position to allow the common people in the world to pass the days in peace and happiness. Translated by foxs

Greatly delighted, Dou Jiande said, That should do it! Xiao Zhong, please tell us your brilliant scheme of using Tujue peoples style to defeat Liyang troops.

Kou Zhong took a deep breath. When his train of thought was back to clear, he spoke with serious expression, The reason the Tujue are acclaimed as invisible wonder troops, able to appear and disappear unpredictably like a spirit or a ghost in the prairie, is simply because they are able to unleash the flexibility of the cavalry to the extreme saturation; they value exquisiteness, they dont value number. Of course we cannot become as formidable as the Tujue wolf army in such a short period of time, but from the fifty thousand soldiers we could carefully pick two, three thousand warriors with brilliant equestrian archery skill, to act as our vanguard troops to open up a path. As long as they could evade the enemys scouts eyes and ears, this cavalry unit could be like the Tujue Wolf Army, appearing and disappearing unpredictably like a spirit or a ghost, plus they could be the invisible wonder troops.

Dou Jiande and Liu Heita listened with full attention, they repeatedly nodded their heads.

Kou Zhong was radiant with delight, his voice projected a very strong self-confidence, he went on, And then our troops will split up five ways, one unit protects the military supply wagons convoy and the construction battalion, taking position in the middle. The other four split front and back, left and right, protecting from far away, keeping a three-li distance with the middle army. We set out early in the morning, travel forty li during the day, by nightfall we can pitch camp and rest about thirty li away from Liyang. The enemy might take the opportunity to strike at night, to burn our rations and fodder, and military supply wagons, we could deliver a frontal assault according to plan, attack his Niangs so that they are in a sorry state.

Knitting his brows, Dou Jiande said, If I were Li Shiji, I would also use fast-moving cavalry in the surprise attack, utilizing the dark night and the terrain as my cover, plus I could attack from any direction, so that the enemy cant guard against it. There is a great possibility that we would really suffer losses.

Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, That is precisely the most brilliant point. Rising to his full height, he walked over to the window facing the garden. Pursing his lips, he let out a shrill whistle. The little falcon Wuming, spiraling high in the sky, heard her masters call and swooped down, entered in and landed on Kou Zhongs outstretched wrist. Since his power was profound, he did not need any wrist guard, also he did not need to worry about being injured by the falcons iron claws.

Kou Zhong made a big turn, laughed happily, and said, With this little darling of mine keeping an eye in the sky, the enemy wont be able to hide from us; one person comes we kill one person, a couple come we kill a pair. What other misgivings might Dou Ye have? Translated by foxs

Dou Jiandes pair of eyes lit up, he laughed loudly and heartily and said, This is called the Heaven helps me, otherwise, how could you, Xiao Zhong come so timely like this? Three more days, early morning, we will march our troops to Weihui, to pull a snake from its hole. Once Liyang falls, other than sending Li Shimin out of the Pass to the east, Li Yuan wont have any other choice.

After three whole days of traveling by fast horse, Xu Ziling, Song Shidao, Lei Jiuzhi and Ren Jun, four men reached Taolin on the southern bank of the Yellow River west of the Pass. They checked in into the hotel in which a reservation has been made. Ou Liangcai was already waiting respectfully for them.

This inn was not casually picked, the boss, Zheng Jiahe, was Zhai Rangs former subordinate. Over the years Zhai Jiao did business inside and outside the Great Wall and made her fortune, thereupon she used her wealth to support their old subordinates to change profession and do business, so that they lived a somewhat stable life.

Zheng Jiahe arranged for them to stay at the rear of the hotel, downstairs was the hall, upstairs were guest rooms, tranquil yet hidden.

Everybody sat down around the table, Zheng Jiahe leaned into Xu Zilings ear and spoke in low voice, The chest that Xu Ye wanted, Da Xiaojie already sent it here, I put it inside the wine cellar downstairs. The lacquer seal on the chest is still intact, it has been left unopened.

This chest of gold and silver, money and valuables was the spoils of war they obtained from the battle of Little Longquan. Less than half of the gold in the chest was given to Ou Liangcai and the other Pingyao merchants as full compensation of the goods that were robbed from them, the remaining money and valuables was still enough to be used as the capital to gamble against Chi Shengchun.

After Xu Ziling expressed his thanks, Zheng Jiahe and his trusted attendants withdrew.

Ou Liangcai cheerfully said, First of all, on behalf of my father and Pingyao merchants, I would like to express our deepest gratitude to gentlemen. Were it not for you seeing what is right and acting courageously, the loss of property would be disastrous, even more, theres the possibility that we might not be able to protect our lives. When my father found out that you are going to deal with Baling Bang, whom everybody absolutely detest, plus this matter will be advantageous to Qin Wang, he is determined to give you his full support. My Er Jiu [second (maternal) uncle] absolutely has no problem, my father already sent someone into the Pass to notify Er Jiu.

Song Shidao said, We have a more detailed plan. And then he explained the scheme to scare Situ Furong away from Pingyao. Translated by foxs

Ou Liangcai happily said, In this respect, we could offer our cooperation. When Situ Furong is leaving Pingyao, we could prepare a ship to enter the Yellow River from the vicinity of Pingyao, gentlemen could embark this ship toward Guanzhong. This way, when someone really investigates, they would think that Situ Furong is indeed going to hide in Guanzhong. We could even spread the information that because he offended the Song Family, Situ Furong could only run away from disaster to Guanzhong, where the Song Familys power difficult to reach. We even have our people within the Pingyao government, I guarantee that all the documents to enter the Pass will be prepared, no one will doubt your identity.

What does Situ Furongs build and appearance look like? Lei Jiuzhi asked.

Ou Liangcai laughed and said, The reason why I remembered Situ Furong in the first place was precisely because his build is big and tall, with thick eyebrows and full beard. If Xu Ye impersonates him, unless you come across someone who is very familiar with him, you will be able to pass off fish eyes for pearls. When I got back to Pingyao, I had someone drew two scrolls of portrait, Situ Furong and his assistant Shen Wenjiang, respectively, for gentlemens perusal.

Lei Jiuzhi raised his thumb in praise, saying, Ou Gongzis thought is very thorough, you are saving us a lot of work. However, there are still three issues to be solved, starting with creating the atmosphere.

Listening on the side, Ren Jun was overflowing with interest, he asked, What do you mean creating the atmosphere?

Immensely proud of himself, Lei Jiuzhi said, Speaking about deception, not that I am bragging, but not many in Jianghu can be more brilliant than me. The most brilliant trick is to have the person being deceived to walk right into the trap, to be delighted to bite the bait. If we simply drop by the Six-Happiness Casino asking for Chi Shengchun, no matter what, he would be a bit suspicious. Only by having him coming to look for us, falsely believe that he is in full control of the initiative, will we be able to play him on the palm of our hands.

Song Shidao smiled and said, Lei Dage, please be generous with giving us directions.

Lei Jiuzhi laughed aloud and said, This is actually a matter of where the water flows, a canal is formed. The Xiang Family is doing everything they can to expand their pleasure quarters and casino business; if they could swallow Situ Furongs pawnshop enterprise, their power will multiply many times over. If my conjecture is correct, we could leak out information in Pingyao, indicating that because in his pawnshop business Situ Furong offended you, Song Er Gongzi, no one dare to provoke your Ol Dad the Heavenly Saber Song Que, thereupon his interest in continuing the pawnshop business is waning, and he has the intention of washing his hands over the golden tray. Under this kind of circumstances, Chi Shengchun would find out from his informers in Pingyao that Situ Furong is taking refuge in Changan, and that he is thinking of giving up his pawnshop business; he will, in thousand ways, a hundred plans, come to find us. And then we could act according to the situation.

None of the crowd did not gasp with admiration. Translated by foxs

Lei Jiuzhi has fully recovered from the Seven Needles to Control the Mind, he vigorously said, The second issue is that we must learn Pingyao accent; otherwise, as soon as we open our mouth, we will immediately expose our identity.

Leave this matter to me, Ou Liangcai cheerfully said, What is the third issue?

Under everybodys attentive gaze, Lei Jiuzhi calmly said, The third issue is entourage. We must have native Pingyao as our tails; the number does not have to be too many, but young maids and servants, we must have seven, eight people. I could dress as the Guanjia [housekeeper, butler], Xiao Jun is the family bodyguard. These people must be absolutely loyal and trustworthy. Ou Gongzi, can you handle it?

Ou Liangcai replied, I have to go back and discuss it with my father, but there shouldnt be any problem.

Song Shidao said, Ou Gongzi, please tell your esteemed father, we are going to see Qin Wang to send our regards first. We will wait for him to give us a nod before we proceed with this definitely risky plan.

Greatly delighted, Ou Liangcai said, In that case, there wont be any problem at all. It will also be much easier for us to get things done or to get help from others.

Pointing to Xu Ziling, Lei Jiuzhi said, Ziling, when are you going to enter the Pass to see Qin Wang? I need to get you a set of household registration documents to get you into the city.

Xu Ziling sighed inwardly; his own brother was going to fight to the death against Li Shimin, yet he was going to ask for Li Shimins cooperation, what kind of his Niangs matter is this?

Tomorrow then! he answered.

It was still about a sichen of darkness before dawn, Zhaochengs west gate opened wide, accompanied by the rumbling noise of hoof beats, three thousand elite cavalry galloped out like a whirlwind, and disappeared into the sparse forest region outside the city.

Wuming was circling freely in the lacquer-dark starless, moonless night sky; unless one had acute eyesight like Kou Zhong, they could forget about seeing Wuming, which had become a small dot in more than a hundred zhang altitude in the sky.

The cavalry stopped in the depth of the forest. Liu Heita and Kou Zhong leaped up onto a tree branch, watching for the information that Wuming was passing on to them on the ground.

Liu Heita sighed and said, Now I understand why the Tujue could make their name as the mighty beyond the Great Wall, merely this secret skill of using the falcon to spy on the enemy is like having a pair of eyes in the sky; they wont be afraid of sneak attack and encountering ambush, but moreover, they can understand the enemys situation well. Translated by foxs

Kou Zhong said, But the eagles eyes wont play a big role in besieging a city; therefore, although the Tujue are able to sweep across the prairie, they can only carry out rapid-attack-and-swift-retreat plundering warfare toward our Central Earth. Its just that this situation is gradually changing. Not only because they have Liu Wuzhou, Liang Shidou, and the other hunting dogs and slaves attaching themselves to them, but even more, its because Zhao Deyan is an expert in besieging a city, so that the Tujue gradually master the tactics of besieging a city.

Letting out a cold snort, Liu Heita said, One more day we dont get rid of Zhao Deyan, one more day he will become the calamity within our Central Earths bosom.

Kou Zhong nodded and said, That is precisely the main reason Xiao Ling set everything aside to deal with the Xiang Family. The Xiang Familys intelligence network covers the entire world, Xiang Yushan, that scum is both crafty and very smart; combined with Zhao Deyans besieging a city technique and the valiant Tujue Wolf Army, sooner or later they will bring great disaster to the Central Plains. Therefore, we must gain the initiative by striking first, to pull the Xiang Family by its root, afterwards it will be Xiao Xians turn to face trouble.

Knitting his brows, Liu Heita said, I wonder if Tuli would consider his brotherhood with you and not join forces with Xieli to invade us?

Kou Zhong shook his head and said with a sigh, I dont know. I really dont know. Tuli could even refuse to help me deal with Li Shimin. Looking at the development beyond the Great Wall, the other tribes allotted share is just to obey Xielis words. The coalition forces beyond the Great Wall coming to invade our territory is just a question of when.

Liu Heita laughed and said, Tomorrows problem, let us consider it tomorrow! What are we going to do now?

Kou Zhong concentrated his attention to observe Wumings flying pattern and its attitude high in the sky; he said, The Tujue call this eagles dance; it could point out the position of the enemys scout, as well as whether the main forces are stopping or moving, and the route of their movement. According to the falcons attitude right now, she has not discovered any enemys trace yet. However, this is not one-hundred-percent certain yet, because she is still very young, there are plenty of opportunity to make a mistake.

Liu Heitas countenance changed, he said, She might make a mistake, wont it mean that its very easy to mess up things?

Blurted out laughing, Kou Zhong said, That is only one possibility. Xiaodi also learned from Old Ba the technique to listen to the ground. If there is any movement of a large number of cavalry within several dozens li, I guarantee that they wont escape my hearing. Come on! Well continue along our originally planned route.

The two mounted their horses and led the cavalry through the forest and across the wilderness.